title: Icariin: does it have an osteoinductive potential for bone tissue engineering?
abstract: Traditional Chinese medicines have been recommended for bone regeneration and repair for thousands of years. Currently, the Herba Epimedii and its multi-component formulation are the attractive native herbs for the treatment of osteoporosis. Icariin, a typical flavonol glycoside, is considered to be the main active ingredient of the Herba Epimedii from which icariin has been successfully extracted. Most interestingly, it has been reported that icariin can be delivered locally by biomaterials and that it has an osteoinductive potential for bone tissue engineering. This review focuses on the performance of icariin in bone tissue engineering and on blending the information from icariin with the current knowledge relevant to molecular mechanisms and signal pathways. The osteoinductive potential of icariin could be attributed to its multiple functions in the musculoskeletal system which is involved in the regulation of multiple signaling pathways in anti-osteoporosis, osteogenesis, anti-osteoclastogenesis, chondrogenesis, angiogenesis, and anti-inflammation. The osteoinductive potential and the low price of icariin make it a very attractive candidate as a substitute of osteoinductive protein-bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), or as a promoter for enhancing the therapeutic effects of BMPs. However, the effectiveness of the local delivery of icariin needs to be investigated further.
authors.affiliation: School of Stomatology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Tie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuanliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wismeijer
authors.forename: Yuelian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000187:drug effects; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D015398:Signal Transduction; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D005419:Flavonoids; C046314:epimedii flavone; C056599:icariin
keywords: BMPs; bone regeneration; bone tissue engineering; icariin; osteoinductive